MakeUseOf.com: “Cool Websites and Tools [January 20th]” plus 22 more |  |
- Cool Websites and Tools [January 20th]
- How To Find Out If Your Email Address Was Leaked Through Gawker’s Database
- 10 Sexy Wallpapers Your Significant Other Will Approve Of
- CrowdMap Disaster Info & Citizen Reports with Ushahidi
- Hot Tech Deals [Jan 20th]
- News RSS Ticker: An Elegant News Ticker For Windows & Linux
- Turn An Old Computer Into A Star Trek Clock With LCARS 24
- 7 Reasons You Might Consider Upgrading To Firefox 4
- How To Reface Your Facebook Profile Using FB Photo Magic
- QNAP TS-419P+ Turbo NAS Review and Giveaway
- How To Move A Full Operating System From An Old PC To A New One
- Cool Websites and Tools [January 19th]
- How To Create Speech Bubbles For Screenshots In GIMP
- 6 Of The Best Shopping Sites For The Coolest Gadgets
- 5 Ways To Make Use Of Groupon
- Hot Tech Deals [Jan 19th]
- 5 Career Tools You Can Use To Pinpoint Your Career Aptitude
- How To Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird For Auto-Responses & Scheduled Emails
- 7 Tools To Help You Develop A Solid Financial Savings Plan
- DOWNLOAD Your PC Hardware Guide [PART 2]
- QuietWrite – A Web-Based Minimal Writing App That Saves Your Writing Online
- Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Review and Giveaway
- Share Little-Known Facts About Yourself With Facto
| Cool Websites and Tools [January 20th] Posted: 20 Jan 2011 07:31 PM PST
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.
    
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| How To Find Out If Your Email Address Was Leaked Through Gawker’s Database Posted: 20 Jan 2011 05:31 PM PST
If you are an active participant on any of Gawker’s websites then you’ll probably have changed your password by now (hint: do it). However, if you’re not sure whether you’ve contributed any comments and would like to know for sure then you can check your email against the list to get the answer you need. You can then take appropriate action if you’ve fallen foul to the leak. Why Such A Big Deal?There’s a reason you’re strongly encouraged to use different passwords for different services. Had you signed up to Gawker’s commenting system with your usual personal email address and used the same password you use to log into said email address then your email and password combination is freely available for all to see. It has emerged since last month’s attacks that a considerable amount of .gov, .edu and .mil (US military) email addresses were included in the leaked database. If these individuals had used the same password for their email login then government, education and military email addresses would be potentially compromised.
According to the hackers 2,650 used “password” or “qwerty” as a password including one .gov address, three .mil addresses and 52 from .edu addresses. This is a prime example of how using a variety of passwords can really save your bacon. Should someone gain access to your email account then personal information like online banking or web hosting details is at the mercy of the intruder. Ok, I’m Sufficiently ScaredGood, so you’ll probably want to check if you’re on the list. As the whole network of sites used the same shared commenting system, every Gawker site was affected. Many of these sites are popular and renowned for breaking news, reviews and their quirky nature.
Outlets include Lifehacker, Gawker (main site), Gizmodo, Kotaku, Fleshbot, io9, Jalopnik, Jezebel and Deadspin. If you have ever made a comment and used your own valid email address then you really should have changed your Gawker password, and any other services that use the same password. Step 1To check whether you’ve been affected you’ll first need to change your email address into an MD5 hash, which you can do here. Simply enter your email in full, click md5 and copy the result to your clipboard.
Step 2With your MD5 saved, go here and click Show Options. From the first drop-down box select MD5 and in the text field paste your MD5 hash and click Apply Filter.
If nothing appears then you’re home dry, your account has not been compromised and you can sleep easy. If you do see a matching row but you’ve changed your password already – no worries, you acted fast. If you see a matching row and have not changed your password then you’ll want to change your Gawker password and any other passwords that match. If you need a bit of help coming up with a couple of passwords, we’ve got an article covering that but please be careful and don’t use too many shared passwords. Did you get stung by Gawkergate? Learned your lesson from shared passwords? Still using “password” as your password? Tell us all about it in the comments below. Image Credit: Shutterstock Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 10 Sexy Wallpapers Your Significant Other Will Approve Of Posted: 20 Jan 2011 03:31 PM PST
Does your desktop wallpaper stimulate you? Do you feel motivated when the same old image greets you each and every time you boot your computer? Maybe it’s time for a change and what could be more exciting than getting a sexy wallpaper? Horses @ DesktopNexusMost animals are just cute, but thoroughbred horses are definitely sexy. At DesktopNexus you can choose from over 2,000 horse wallpapers and thousands more of other fascinating wild animals, including sharks and bears.
Resolution and aspect ration are detected automatically. Click here. Food @ Wallpaper AbyssOh yes, food is sexy, just think of 9 1/2 Weeks. And other than strawberries dipped in cream and chocolate ice cream, what could be more sexy than a firm green apple?
1680 x 1050 – 1400 x 1050 – 1440 x 900 – 1280 x 1024 – 1280 x 960 – 1280 x 800 – 1024 x 768 Visit the apple page for wallpapers with mobile and avatar resolutions. Franz von Stuck @ Art WallpaperYou can’t possibly display nudity on your desktop, unless it’s art. I selected a painting called The Sin (Die Sünde) by Franz von Stuck. If this particular artist doesn’t float your boat, you can browse the works of dozens of other artists, including Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Gustav Klimt, Tizian, or Vincent van Gogh.
1680 x 1050 – 1600 x 1200 – 1440 x 900 – 1400 x 1050 – 1280 x 1024 – 1280 x 800 – 1152 x 864 – 1024 x 768 – 800 x 600 Curves @ deviantARTThere is no doubt that curves are sexy and so are minimalistic curvy wallpapers. You will find a wide selection at deviantART. Enter your preferred resolution or keyword in the > Search Art text field.
The Eye @ WallpapersCCEyes are most certainly sexy! Discover more potential eye wallpapers via Google Images.
Visit The Eye Wallpaper page and click the image for a wallpaper that fits to your desktop. Mac @ Wallpapers-roomWith its sleek design and elegant curves a Mac is sexy for sure. So is its logo in any form or shape.
On the left-hand side click the > All resolutions button and pick your desired resolution. Then click the > Download link in the top right corner of the image. Anime @ Anime WallpapersApparently innocence is very desirable. This explains the huge success of anime. You can tap into this world of fantasy with beautiful and sexy anime wallpapers.
1440 x 900, 1280 x 800, 960 x 600 Nature @ 2desktopNature is the true embodiment of sexy. It’s our origin and our destiny. What could be more attractive and interesting than that?
1920 x 1200, 1680 x 1050, 1440 x 900 Motivation @ Goal Setting GuideMotivation is the driving force behind everything we do. Thus it is sexy because it makes us do all those things that make us attractive, interesting, and desirable.
1920 x 1200, 1280 x 800, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 1024, 1024 x 768 BMW @ NetCarShow.comGirls love cars, too, if they are comfortable, air-conditioned, not too loud, and come in the right color….this is the hot BMW Z4 2011. On the same website you’ll find lots of sexy car wallpapers, sorted by car manufacturer from A to Z.
1920 x 1200 – 1600 x 1200 – 1280 x 960 – 1024 x 1200 It’s all about the image in your mind. Nobody but you can see what you imagine. So what do you imagine and which wallpaper is your favorite? Image credits: Karolina L Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| CrowdMap Disaster Info & Citizen Reports with Ushahidi Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:31 PM PST
When events happen rapidly and on a massive scale, traditional media outlets have some difficulty verifying and transmitting relevant information to people. Emergency situations require current information — and lots of it. Unverified citizen reports of danger can save lives. This is why Ushahidi tries to make it easier for citizens to give these reports and offers free software to facilitate the information. What Is Ushahidi?Ushahidi is free open-source software for co-ordinating citizen reports on a national crisis. When there is an emergency, anyone can quickly create an Ushahidi map to co-ordinate the information for the area. It will allow people to see unverified reports on a map and a timeline, so they can get information quickly.
Ushahidi means “Testimony” in Swahili and was originally created to track post-election violence in Kenya in 2008. Here’s a quick video on Ushahidi and its uses. Anyone can download, adjust and use the Ushahidi code to make a visualisation of useful crowd-sourced information. But if you prefer to have something hosted for you, Ushahidi is available to use free in the cloud via CrowdMap. This means you can set up a free disaster-tracking map in minutes. How Can You Make Use Of Ushahidi?Disaster efforts which have been tracked through Ushahidi already include Snowmageddon, crime in Atlanta, London tube strikes, floods in Australia and more. For future emergencies, you can expect there will be an Ushahidi map created to co-ordinate relief efforts.
These maps can be used to collect any crowd-sourced information, though. Ushahidi might also see a future outside of disaster situations, such as collecting information on public art, festival happenings, garage sales, environmental monitoring or other interesting mappable data.
Once you set up a deployment in either CrowdMap or a self-hosted Ushahidi instance, you can collect information via SMS, email, website, online news, Twitter hashtags and smartphone applications. Your map is publicly viewable, so everyone can see the data collected on the map and timeline.
As the person who set up the map, you’re also able to view website statistics collected with Google Analytics.
Ushahidi Applications On SmartPhonesThe Ushahidi application is available free for all popular smartphone types. Here’s links to the iPhone/iPad and the Android application. The phone can record accurate location data for your reports. If you’re unable to connect to the Internet it is able to take your report and upload it later when you have Internet access. The iOS application has far more options than the Android application. With the Android application, you need to know the URL of the map you want to follow and you can only get reports for one map at a time. Whereas the iOS application allows multiple maps to be monitored and it lets you download a map for offline use. It even has a discrete option which pops up a browser if you shake the phone (useful for sensitive information, like election reporting).
Submitting & Tracking Crisis InformationIf there is an emergency, you can get hold of the Ushahidi application for your smartphone, then easily upload photos or text updates of events you’ve witnessed. You can also track any relevant map online or offline to keep abreast of the local situation.
If you don’t have a smartphone, you can send SMS updates, email, tweet using the map’s hashtag or upload information via the relevant website. Thoughts On Ushahidi/CrowdMapsDue to the simplicity of using CrowdMaps there will be lots of new users making maps for all sorts of things. This will be both good and bad, since it increases the wealth of public information, but also makes finding that information more difficult. It would be best if Ushahidi could also use your location to try to find maps with local information for you. If there’s too many there, Ushahidi will need to add relevance filters so you can find the important ones. In an emergency situation, I doubt everyone will follow protocol and check for maps already made — it’s more likely you’ll wind up with more than one map tracking the same things. Hopefully Ushahidi will add a “hey, it looks like there might already be a map for this” checking feature to help people avoid double-ups.
Overall, I’m thoroughly impressed with Ushahidi and CrowdMaps. It makes crowd-sourcing geographical data quick, easy and free. There’s power in that sort of community facilitation. More MappingIf you’re into maps, you’ll love these articles:
With all these great map ideas to choose from, what will you use Ushahidi for? Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Posted: 20 Jan 2011 12:15 PM PST
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| News RSS Ticker: An Elegant News Ticker For Windows & Linux Posted: 20 Jan 2011 11:31 AM PST
Staying up-to-the-minute isn’t important for everyone, but if it is for you I highly recommend this app for the job. Last year we highlighted four good free desktop news ticker apps. Some were specific to a certain news outlet, some were complex, but none combined the customizable simplicity of News RSS Ticker. This application allows you to see the headlines from any news organization in real time, on your terms. Using News RSS TickerLaunch this nifty app and you’ll see your news ticker:
By default the news is coming from the BBC, which isn’t an altogether bad source to start with. International news is always a good thing. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be annoyed by the speed of this ticker by default. Don’t panic; you can change this. Click the question mark to the left of the ticker; this will pull up the menu. From here you can find the option to slow down the ticker:
As you can see, you can also restart the feed. This is good if you miss a particular story. Click a headline and your default browser will open, giving you access to the full story. This is nice if a particular headline grabs your attention. Want to open another RSS feed? You’ll find the option to do so in the menu. This is a great way to keep up with the latest news from a particular organization. It’s also worth noting that you can add text files to this ticker. If you’re looking for a hilarious distraction, I recommend downloading The Devil’s Dictionary, a hilarious satirical dictionary by author Ambrose Bierce. Although you could easily imagine your own uses for this functionality. CustomizeYou can customize most aspects of this RSS Ticker. You can, for example, change the colors and the default RSS feed. You can also set the positioning and more:
Explore the settings to get a feel for what’s possible, but you can essentially make the application look however you want. Download The ApplicationWindows and Linux users should head on over to NewsRSSreader.com to download this application. Linux users will find Ubuntu/Debian packages by default, with other options lower down on the download page. Windows users will find the usual installation package, complete with multiple “Next” buttons. ConclusionThese kinds of free news ticker apps can be distracting, but can also be useful from time to time. Do you have a favorite use for applications like this? Share it below. Also feel free to recommend alternative applications for keeping up with the news. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Turn An Old Computer Into A Star Trek Clock With LCARS 24 Posted: 20 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST
There’s plenty of evidence here at MUO that we’re Trek fans. I once wrote an article about getting Trek sounds for your computer. Guy covered a search tool called Wolfram that can give you more information about a subject than you’d ever imagine, just like the Star Trek computer. Then there was Saikat’s article about the 10 best Trek websites. Seriously, if you’re a Trek fan, MUO has you covered.
Installing LCARS 24 In DOSBoxIf you have an old computer with DOS on it, you really don’t have to worry about this step. However, if you want to use your Windows 7 laptop as your own personal Star Trek computer, then you can do so. Just go ahead and install DOSBox to your machine, if you haven’t already. Once you do that, download the LCARS 24 files to a new folder on your c: drive. Mount that directory in DOSBox using the “mount c c:\LCARS” command. Then, from within DOSBox, go to that directory and run Install.bat.
After an installation procedure that takes about two to five minutes, depending on the speed of your computer, the installation will complete. Then, you can run the app just by typing “LCARS24.EXE.” The first thing you’ll notice is a large alarm clock screen with today’s date and time. The main screen of “computer” also includes a monthly calendar display and an alarm. Running on an old DOS machine, this will be one of the most advanced alarm clocks you’ll ever own!
You can start to see just how much information is available in this tool when you press F7 to view the world map. You’ll see a view of the entire world with the current time laid out in each time zone. Scroll across with the arrow keys to set the time zone you want the computer to use. You’ll notice as you scroll and navigate screens that all of the sounds and effects are pretty much authentic Trek – you’ll instantly recognize the classic computer voice.
From the main screen, press F8 to get to your phonebook where you can list all of your phone numbers for quick reference. When the list gets unmanageably long, there’s a “find” feature that’ll help you find your contacts.
If you select Files (F3), you’ll see the “storage” area where all of your saved files are. Upon installing the LCARS24, there’s a lot of pre-installed files.
You’ll find things like images and diagrams of Star Trek ships, images and details about space, space exploration, and a lot more. It’s perfect as a bedside clock because if you need something to read you’ve got volumes of information built in!
My favorite area of LCARS 24 is the “Program” page (F4 from the main page). Here you’ll find an assortment of some of the coolest apps, including games like Chess and Crosswords, and even the original Tetris!
Another program you’ll find that might be helpful if you’re monitoring your weight and health is the Body-Mass Index Calculator. Just enter your height and current weight, and it’ll show you where you fall within the BMI scale.
Yet another useful program built right into this “alarm clock” is the Math Service. On this page you can type in any complex math formula you like, and the program will solve it for you. Consider it like a text-based scientific calculator.
Maybe it’s just me, but the idea of setting up a small, older-model laptop on my bedside table with this Star Trek computer running constantly as a bedside alarm clock is the coolest idea. As you can see above, you can run the app on your Windows 7 machine as a personal organizer and desktop clock if you want to, but it really shines when you install it on an old machine and just let it run. It’ll be one of the most advanced alarm clocks you’ll ever own. And if you’re a Trekkie, you’ll wake up every morning with a smile. Give LCARS 24 a try and let us know what you think. Is it authentic and true to the Trek computer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 7 Reasons You Might Consider Upgrading To Firefox 4 Posted: 20 Jan 2011 09:30 AM PST
Let’s look at some of the individual “game changing” reasons why you might consider upgrading. SpeedFirefox 4 improves over the speed of Firefox 3 in a number of different areas. They have rebuilt the javascript engine from the ground up, giving noticeable performance improvements specifically on script intensive sites such as Gmail.
Not only have the rendering times improved, but the overall speed of the browser was a major goal of this version. Your 3D graphics card is also used to assist in rendering web pages. On an older computer, I had given up using Firefox 3 because of the slowness of it – Chrome was the only way I found to speed up browsing. Loading Firefox 4 on this machine gives me at least anecdotal evidence that the speed of the browser itself has improved greatly; and it is now bearable even on older systems. Who might want to upgrade? Users of slower PCs who had given up on Firefox because of slowness. Security
Since Firefox 4 is open source, the codebase is available for review by anyone. As with any web browser security flaws are often found and fixed – but since Firefox is more open about this I give them an edge over Internet Explorer or Safari. Who might want to upgrade because of security? Internet Explorer holdouts. The Cloud
Firefox 4 now integrates ‘cloud’ synchronization of bookmarks, passwords, preferences, history and tabs. If you choose to use this function you can have the above synchronized between Firefox browsers on different computers – and that includes Firefox on Android and iOS devices. An oft-cited use for cloud sync is looking up directions on your desktop, then while on the road you bring up Firefox mobile and your browser with directions is already open and synced. Although I think this does have a great convenience factor, privacy is an issue you would have to consider whether you want to use this feature or not. Who might want to upgrade? Anyone who browses the web constantly in multiple locations. HTML5 Support
We have seen some of the cool things you can do with HTML5 and Firefox 4 supports these just as with many other new browsers. One thing that Firefox will do that the others can not (as of yet) is the Indexed DB function which is related to offline storage of online data. To see browser HTML5 capabilities compared check out HTML5 readiness. Who might want to upgrade? Web standards geeks and designers. Privacy
This, along with the great Security and Privacy addons available for Firefox, make it one of the most privacy capable browsers currently available. Who might want to upgrade? Anyone concerned about privacy on the web, EFF members. New Looks
Tabs can also be pinned to the opened tab list, turning them into permanent App Tabs. Who may want to upgrade? Those tired of the looks of their old web browser. Addons
Who might want to upgrade? Anyone who loves to tweak their browser and really get the most out of it. In Summary…Firefox 4 is a pretty big advancement over the old versions. There are tons of smaller features that are also in this version and from what I saw of beta 9 it is almost ready for release and is perfectly stable. If you want to be ahead of the curve, check out Firefox 4 beta today and keep an eye out for the final release towards the end of February 2011! Follow MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.
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| How To Reface Your Facebook Profile Using FB Photo Magic Posted: 20 Jan 2011 08:31 AM PST
It’s said that Alexandre Oudin – a French artist – was the first one who explored the possibilities of creatively “refacing” the new profile page. Since then, many people have come up with their own version of a personalized profile page. As the refacing process required some skills in photo editing and the tenacity to find the perfect arrangement, most of us couldn’t (or wouldn’t) join in the craze. But that was in the past. Today, everything can be done easily in a few steps with the help of an online tool called FB Photo Magic. Let’s Create Some MagicIf you want to join all the cool kids on Facebook, why don’t you try to reface your own profile page? Go to the FB Photo Magic website and click the “Start” button.
Click “Choose File” to pick the picture that you want to upload and then click “Upload Photo“. Based on my experiment, it’s advisable to pre-process the photo prior to uploading it. Not only will you get the portion of the image that you want, but you will also get a smaller size compared to the original picture.
The first thing that you will notice after the uploading process is the drop down list of “Text lines“. This list asks you to choose one of the numbers according to how many lines there are on your profile page.
To get the figure, go to your profile page and count the lines under your name next to your profile picture.
Then you can set the image template. You can resize the box and move it around. The parts of the picture under the white boxes are the ones that will show up on your profile page. Adjust the boxes’ position so that they will overlay portions of the image that you want to show.
Click the “Save” button at the top right corner of the page, then continue by clicking “Upload to Facebook“.
A confirmation window will open, asking you to allow FB Photo Magic to access your Facebook account.
When everything is done, you’ll see the success message along with quick instructions on how to set everything up.
Completing The ProcessNow we are a few steps away before we finish the refacing process. To complete the journey, log into your Facebook account and go to the “Photos” page by clicking on the link in the sidebar under the profile picture. Then open the FB Photo Magic album.
Inside the album, you will see a set of “puzzle” photos that you’ve just created. Click on the last picture to open it. This last picture is the largest picture on the left that will be your profile picture.
Go to the lower part of the photo page and click on the link “Make Profile Picture“.
Then click “Okay” in the confirmation window.
And you’re done. Just for the sake of the experiment, I created another set of profile pictures using my daughter’s photo, activated it, and decided to keep the result (she’s a lot more photogenic than I!)
An Alternative And Few NotesFB Photo Magic is not the only application that you can use to reface your Facebook profile page. Another alternative that I found is Schweppes Profile App. The working process is similar to FB Photo Magic. However, during my experiment, I was always stuck on the “uploading to Facebook” step. But feel free to try it, maybe you’ll have better luck. Please note that even though I used FB Photo Magic with several images without any problem, one of the profile images that I got was distorted. So if you get distorted image, you could repeat the process or use alternative images. Use the “Preview” feature before uploading the result to Facebook. Since the images shown on your profile page are actually images tagged with your name, it’s possible that the set that you created is replaced by more recent set of images also tagged with your name. If this happens, you could hover above the images that you don’t want and click on the “X” to close them. Doing this will not erase the images. You just keep them off your profile page. I found that refacing my Facebook profile page is fun. You should try it yourself and enjoy the time when your friends beg you to tell them how to do it! Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| QNAP TS-419P+ Turbo NAS Review and Giveaway Posted: 20 Jan 2011 08:00 AM PST
The device that we’ll be looking at today is the QNAP TS-419P+ Turbo NAS. It’s only available as a diskless system and priced at $599, it isn’t exactly cheap. However, if you were thinking about getting a NAS, you really should read this article because this particular model could be just what you were looking for. Not to mention, we will be giving the review unit away. So hop in.
At the front, it sports the 4 aforementioned drive bays, a USB port and a corresponding backup button for easy one-touch backup, a LCD panel and 2 control buttons. The LCD panel allows you to check its status, IP address, and administer the system — either power it down or perform a restart. It sports a brushed aluminium body, which is very classy indeed.
At the back, is where the magic happens. You’ll find 2 eSATA ports, which was not available on the other 3 NAS devices we reviewed. Plus, it’s got 1 more USB port than the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4. Along with that, and perhaps the most interesting part of the QNAP is the dual ethernet interface, which supports network teaming. We spoke about network teaming yesterday in the Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 review (where sadly, it is not supported) but in case you missed it, here’s a quick recap. Teaming or trunking is the ability to combine 2 network interfaces together, resulting in a single, faster connection to the router. There are various modes of network teaming and here’s what the TS-419P+ supports:
So far, things are looking good for the TS-419P+. Its hardware specs are enough to please any prosumer.
Installation/DetectionSince the TS-419P+ is a diskless system, you must first have your own hard drives. Currently, the largest capacity drive that the device is able to accommodate is 2 TB. View the complete compatibility list here. To install the drives, simply remove the drive trays from the bays at the front and screw the drives onto the trays. Push them back into the device and power it on. Like all NAS devices, the QNAP TS-419P+ comes with its own dashboard/detection application on a CD called QNAP Finder which is cross platform. You may also download it from their website. Once the application is installed, it will automatically detect any QNAP NAS devices on your network and assist you in logging into the web-based GUI.
Clicking on Configure will begin the initiation process.
Initialising the drives is a 6-step process where you will be asked to set a name for the device, an administrative password, the time zone, the services you require, and finally, the RAID array configuration. The TS-419P+ is capable of RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 5+ hot spare; and JBOD. It also supports the newer EXT4 file system. After customising the device to your preference, it takes roughly about 15 minutes for the entire system to be online and ready for use. Logging into the administration web-based AJAX GUI is simple if you know the device’s IP address. Open a browser of your choice and type in its IP address. If not, use the QNAP Finder to locate your device, then click on Connect.
Like the Synology, QNAP’s web interface is pretty good although it doesn’t support multi-tasking. The GUI is easy to manoeuvre and quite responsive. It also provides an easy, one-touch solution to enable various functions like Apple Time Machine support, a file server, web server, backup server, iTunes server, print server, media centre, torrent download centre, webcam surveillance support, the list goes on. The TS-419P+ also has several advanced options like UPS support and power management, among others. In addition to that, the system allows for even more features like a Twonkymedia server, Squeezebox server, PS3 media server, Joomla and WordPress installations via its QPKG system. ExpansionWith its hot-swappable front access drive bays, the TS-419P+ could not be easier to upgrade or expand. Plus, the system supports on-the-fly RAID level migration. This means that upgrading from a 2-disk to 4-disk system is a walk in the park. ManagementEvery setting imaginable is easily accessible from the GUI; from the RAID array configuration, access management, disk quota distribution and file services to backup settings. There is also a built-in search function to allow you to easily find the setting that you’re looking for. The GUI also provides a means to keep an eye on the system, displaying vital information like the system and hard disk temperatures, and their S.M.A.R.T. statuses.
ConclusionThe QNAP TS-419P+ is, in every aspect, quite capable. With features like network teaming and on-the-fly RAID migration, a geek couldn’t ask for more. QNAP TS-419P+ Turbo NAS may be purchased from online retailers like Newegg at $569.99. But we’re giving this one away. If you’d like to get your hands on it, here’s what you need to do. How do I become a winner?It’s simple, just follow the instructions.
Giveaway eligibility You must be a fan of our Facebook page to enter; Individuals who are over the age of 18. If you are under 18, get your parents to participate on your behalf; Individuals who reside in a country embargoed by the United States; Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India are not permitted to enter. This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, February 18th at 2100hrs PST. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email. Spread the word to your friends and have fun! MakeUseOf would like to thank QNAP for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| How To Move A Full Operating System From An Old PC To A New One Posted: 20 Jan 2011 07:31 AM PST
The only problem with buying a new PC – one that has existed for years and that hardware technology can't solve – is when you want to move the operating system to your new hard drive. Simply copying your operating system from one hard drive to another doesn't work, and trying to install your old hard disk into your new PC may result in issues as well. There is a solution to this issue, however. Making Your Clone
Operating systems are finicky beasts. They don't like to be copied directly over to a new hard drive, and the operating system on your new PC will most certainly won’t let you copy over it (at least as long as it's running). There's good reason for this, in terms of curtailing security threats and preventing accidental operating system damage, but it certainly makes moving a full operating system more difficult. Since copying operating system files the old-fashioned way doesn't result in a bootable operating system being transferred over, you'll need to rely on a process called cloning. Cloning a hard drive replicates all or some of the files on it and also replicates the file structure of the hard drive. This creates a perfect bootable copy. Other MakeUseOf authors have discussed this topic already, so check out Tina's post about popular freeware cloning software and Benjamin's post about how to clone a hard drive with Clonezilla. Cloning Problems
Unfortunately, while cloning does create a perfect copy of your hard drive and the operating system on it, it isn't always the best solution. The process of cloning is itself a bit complex, and it will presumably require that you at some point have an extra hard drive, since directly cloning your existing drive to the drive on your new PC would wipe out the new PC's drive entirely. The other issue with cloning is that creating a perfect copy does not guarantee that your old operating system will work with your new PC. When an operating system installs itself on a PC, it also installs a plethora of drivers relating to your PC's hardware. If you transfer your existing OS to a new PC, much of that hardware is going to be different – and that can be a shock to your OS. It will have drivers for certain hardware, but that hardware is gone. It will try to compensate by installing new drivers automatically, but if it can't find the right drivers it will likely crash. You may be able to repair the operating system if you still have the install disc around, or can load the installer onto another bootable device, but this can be a frustrating process. Transferring Files
If cloning sounds like too much work, or you've tried it and found that it failed, you can forgo trying to transfer the entire operating system and instead transfer only your files and system settings. Windows has a utility for this called Windows Easy Transfer. As the name implies, the goal of the software is to transfer everything from your old PC to your new PC that could easily be lost. It doesn't transfer software, but it does transfer documents, photos, music, program settings, etc. Once the process is complete, your new PC should behave much as the old one did, and should have all of your personal files as well.
The Windows Easy Transfer software is free, but a direct USB connection between computers requires that you buy a Windows Easy Transfer Cable. You can skip this, however, by connecting two computers via a network and transferring files that way. A direct Ethernet connection is usually quickest. Linux users can accomplish this same task by using a utility called Rsync. Apple users aren't left out in the cold, either – OS X comes with a utility called Migration Assistant that will help you transfer files to your new Mac from an old one. ConclusionPersonally, I don't recommend that most users go with cloning, although it is the only option that results in a true full operating system transfer. Utilities that transfer all critical system information and your personal files usually give you a better result – they transfer important data, but don't leave room for driver compatibility issues that could cause crashes. Let us know if you have done this, and if so, what method you chose to go with. How did it go? Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Cool Websites and Tools [January 19th] Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:31 PM PST
These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here. Or follow us via RSS feed.
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| How To Create Speech Bubbles For Screenshots In GIMP Posted: 19 Jan 2011 05:31 PM PST
As a GIMP enthusiast, I learn mostly from following online tutorials over and over till I don’t need the instructions to repeat the steps anymore. That’s how I learned to do the zoom/magnifier effect, which I badly needed for some of my screenshots. Here’s another such tutorial that’s out of necessity for anyone that blogs and needs to point at and annotate some part of the screenshot.
If you want to undo these lines, just press Escape.
That’s it! If you have any tips on making these steps shorter, let us know in the comments! Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 6 Of The Best Shopping Sites For The Coolest Gadgets Posted: 19 Jan 2011 03:31 PM PST
The following are the best shopping sites that specialize in the geekiest, funkiest and sometimes stupidest gadgets for boys and girls, old and young. So if you’re shopping for yourself, a loved one just a friend you’re bound to find something that fits. Fire up your browser and dig out your wallet – it’s time to put it on plastic. I Want One Of ThoseA very fitting name, considering the selection of products on offer. I Want One Of Those (or IWOOT for short) is a UK-based gadget company who have been trading online for over 10 years. On offer is a decent selection of toys and gadgets, as well as home wares, photo gifts and an old-school retro section.
If you’re really stumped, the website’s gift finder (on the left side of the homepage) is bound to help you pick that perfect prezzie. The company ships worldwide for a fee of £9.95 (about $15), with reduced delivery rates to mainland Europe. ThinkGeekCertainly one of the more established geek-oriented web stores online, ThinkGeek has had it all sewn up for years. The startling array of weird and wonderful gifts (like this insane breathable chocolate) can be shipped anywhere in the world, though cost (and customs duties) will depend on what you’re buying and where it’s going.
The company now also offers a reward scheme called Geek Points, which accrue with each purchase. You can then save or spend your points on one of the many rewards available. Woot!Not so much of a shopping website as a deal website, Woot! highlights one deal a day and sticks to it. The item on sale will always be in stock and generally ships within 3 business days (but only to the continental United States, sad face).
Despite the uh… limited selection, Woot! keeps visitors coming back with unmissable deals. Once the item on sale is sold out – it’s gone. You’ll have to wait till midnight (central time) for the next item to take its place on the virtual shelf. eBuyerOnly open to UK residents (the US branch closed down so they could focus on the other side of the pond) but certainly worth a mention, eBuyer sell a huge range of laptops, desktops, tablets, netbooks, peripherals and components.
There’s also a decent selection of lifestyle gadgets including cameras and MP3 players, and not to mention a gaming section with both consoles and games. You can have your order the next day if you order before 11pm, perfect if you do most of your online shopping after dark. FireboxToys, gadgets, gifts and all things fun are available from this UK and US serving online retailer. The UK site also doubles up as an international store, allowing delivery worldwide (calculated at checkout). You can switch between stores at the top right of the homepage.
Firebox sells similar products to IWOOT and ThinkGeek, though each store has its own offers, favourites and niches. If you can’t find anything you like then you can always check out everything currently available (steady on, it’s a big page to load). MakerSHEDIf you can’t find the perfect gadget then you could always try making it instead. MakerSHED gives you the opportunity to do just that – build something really really cool, from scratch. The robotics section is a stellar example of the fun you could potentially be having with your own carefully crafted creation.
Children can really get a kick out of this one too, with a whole kids section bursting with fun projects that might actually teach them something. The company ships worldwide, providing you’re in the right country. You’re going to need to sign up for an account and check your country is listed to proceed. ConclusionHopefully the list here of the best shopping sites for cool gadgets is enough to help you find that elusive electronic gift, gadget or activity. If you are ordering internationally then make sure you’re up to speed with the customs and import taxes you may have to pay. Remember – unlike eBay sellers, retailers will not mark your purchase as a gift in order to avoid these charges. Shop wisely! Picked up any cool bits of kit recently? Got any favourite gadget websites? Let us know, as usual! Image Credit: Shutterstock Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Posted: 19 Jan 2011 01:31 PM PST
With that said, my entire attitude toward online deals changed when someone recently pointed me toward Groupon. Groupon is a site that is really difficult to describe, because it’s different than most other sites devoted to selling you something. Groupon stands apart because it offers different things to different people, so I’ve decided to go over the 5 coolest ways that you can make use of Groupon. Sign In & Instantly Earn CashThe entire point of Groupon is more of a “group” deal than just a discount site. It actually reminds me a little bit of eBay because each deal is only up for a limited time. Once the set minimum number of buyers purchase the deal, everyone receives the discount.
Once you sign up with your email, you can start adding friends. While I really hate referring my friends to any sort of sales website, Groupon really is worth it. It takes me a lot to admit that, but after watching a few of the discounts show up – I was really surprised by how steep many of them are. Most of them are 40 to 70 percent off of things like local dining, spa treatments, store discounts and a lot more.
For every friend you refer and that signs up, you get ten bucks in Groupon coupons. Now, if you think about that, that means every ten friends you convince to sign up with you, that’s a hundred dollars just to get started buying deals on Groupon. Save Money At Local BusinessesThe part that sets Groupon above the rest in my opinion is the fact that the deals are tailored to your geographic location. Of course, add in the excitement of a limited time offer (right down to the ticking clock) and the need to get at least the minimum number of buyers, and it can get kind of exciting.
This means that you’re not going to see discounts to just national brands or major store chains, these are impressive deals that local businesses are offering. Save Money On GiftsOnce you sign up and start buying “Groupons”, you can organize those in your account under “My Groupons“. You can also purchase Groupon coupons as gifts and send them to your friends. The cool thing about this is that you can purchase some pretty impressive gifts but you don’t have to spend a fortune.
Now, if you really want to offer your friends an awesome gift, then pass on the savings to them. At the bottom of the main Groupon page, you’ll see a link for “Give the Gift of Groupon.” Click on that link, fill out the details and the amount you’d like to give and send your friends a Groupon credit.
Why are Groupon coupons better than cash? Because it goes further. Your friend will be able to stretch that $25 gift certificate into a purchase worth $50 to $100. And don’t be fooled by my choice of currency – Groupon is available in 35 countries across the world. Use Groupon For Your BusinessI think the magic that will make Groupon even more popular moving forward is the fact that it makes everyone happy. Obviously, customers that can save over fifty percent off the cost of anything are usually pretty happy, but the business model of Groupon is pretty impressive as well. Basically, businesses don’t pay until they get paid. When you sign up to advertise, Groupon simply takes a commission of the sale and gives you the rest. Getting featured on Groupon is as easy as clicking the “Groupon for your Business” link at the bottom of the main page.
Fill out the form and you’re good to go. If you don’t have anything to sell, but you wouldn’t mind making money by referring folks to Groupon, then you’ll be interested in their affiliate plan.
You can even have the color format of the ad match the theme of your own site. This is what the ad will look like on your site.
What makes it unique and useful to your website visitors is that the ads will automatically check for the location of your visitor, and then try to deliver deals from their local area. Access Your Groupons On Your Mobile DeviceUsing Groupons becomes a lot more useful when you can use “paperless redemption” to cash in your purchased Groupon using your mobile device. All of the deals you purchased are stored on your phone where you can access them quickly without printing.
While you’re on the go and looking for local deals, just search for nearby deals using the built-in GPS feature – it’s a cool, fast way to save money while you’re on the road. Have you ever used Groupon? Which feature do you use the most and did you find any impressive deals through the service? Share your experience in the comments section below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Posted: 19 Jan 2011 12:15 PM PST
For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.
Image credit: Modified from Svengraph’s icon set Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 5 Career Tools You Can Use To Pinpoint Your Career Aptitude Posted: 19 Jan 2011 11:31 AM PST
So true! But how do we find out our attitude and aptitude for the right career? Deep thinking or godsend mentors are two ways. Some professional guidance is always well advised. But while you are waiting for all of these, why not take the help of some free career aptitude tests, tools and quizzes to decipher your personality traits and see what you would like to do with the next 30-40 years of your life?
TestQ
This is a nicely designed website that's all about career quizzes of all kinds. Some quizzes are plain fun (What's your perfect excuse?) while some tune into aspects of your hidden personality (the Classic IQ Test). An array of quizzes tests you on everything from finding out what you should major in to the fitness of your resume. The site is part of the well known Monster.com network. Career Path
For some career guidance, start off with finding out what the right career is for you. If you are already into the rat race, measure your level of satisfaction on the job with the Career Vision Job Satisfaction Quiz. Some of the tests like the Color Career Indicator might give you sample reports and not the full one, but even the free sample results give an insight. Career InfoNet
The site is sponsored by the U.S Department of Labor and has tools which help both the student and the established professional. One of the useful tools is the Skills Profiler which helps you take stock of your skills and connect them to the right kind of jobs or further training. The video section also gives you a peek into the day to day life of a variety of professions. LiveCareer
The free online career aptitude test takes you through 100 questions that you can tick off in 15 minutes. All questions have to be rated with a choice of what you like the most and the least. The results can tell you your fitness for a particular type of career. The career service gives you the results in both graphical and text based forms. The site says that there are nearly 36,729 possible careers in North America and 284 academic majors you can pick from. Monster's Career Tools
The career tools on this international job site aren't in the quiz form but they help with insights into any career or job you might want to explore. Career Snapshots gives you direct information on what each job entails and important data on things like rate of industry growth, expected size of industry, number of similar profiles on the site etc. Career Benchmarking shows where you stand with regards to aspects like job benefits, work-life balance, and salary etc. Career Mapping is the beta-tool you might be immediately interested in to see how your career path is panning out. The above five are just some of the tools which can help you define yourself and define the years you are going to spend in a job you want to enjoy. If you want to really know yourself, we can throw a barrage of resources towards you. Here are two – How To Have Fun With Online Personality Quizzes – by Ann Armed with some self knowledge, you can dive into the job hunt with these - 5 Steps To Successfully Find Your Next Job Online – by Tina Have you made a deliberate effort to decide on your career or have you surrendered to your gut feeling? Let us know your take on these career guiding resources. Image Credit : Shutterstock Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| How To Set Up Mozilla Thunderbird For Auto-Responses & Scheduled Emails Posted: 19 Jan 2011 10:31 AM PST
Recently, one of my friends who runs an education-related blog asked whether it’s possible to use his email client to auto-respond and schedule emails. He uses Mozilla Thunderbird – one of the most well known desktop email clients available today. It’s cross-platform, full featured, and free; and it would make a good candidate to show us how far a desktop client can go.
Setting Up An Auto-Response FilterWhy would anyone want to set up an auto response filter? With a little creativity, you could think of many uses for an auto-responder. Here are a few examples that crossed my mind:
The first step how to set up Mozilla Thunderbird with an auto-response filter is to create a message template.
The second step is to set up the filtering system.
If you want to create other kinds of filters, here is the list of all the available filter rules that you can use. For example, use the “Date – After” and “Date – before” to set up a vacation mail. Set the start date to be the first day of your vacation and the end date to be the day you are coming back to the office.
And also the available actions.
Creating A Scheduled EmailAnother unique feature that you can enable in Thunderbird is creating scheduled emails. It means that you can create emails that will be sent on a specific time in the future. This feature would be really useful to send reminders, either to yourself, your friends, or to groups of people. To enable this feature, we will need help from an add-on called Send Later.
The two examples above show us that you can use a desktop email client beyond the realm of reading and replying to emails. If you know of other creative uses of Thunderbird, please share them using the comments section below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| 7 Tools To Help You Develop A Solid Financial Savings Plan Posted: 19 Jan 2011 09:31 AM PST
There are several online calculators that work similar to using formulas in Excel spreadsheets. These calculators help you see more clearly how much money you can save over time by cutting back on spending or making better choices about the purchases you make. A savings plan means you may still buy the things you want or need, but you do so by not incurring more expenses. Budgeting & Saving Using MintFirst off, in order to make your goal(s) attainable, you will probably need to budget your spending in order to start saving or increase your savings. One online service you might try for this entire budgeting and savings process is Mint. Back in June I reviewed how to use this free service to develop a budgeting plan. Since then, Mint.com has added another feature, aptly called Goals.
Mint makes it super easy to set up a savings plan for nearly any type of goal, including paying off a debt, buying a car, taking a trip, buying a home, or saving for retirement. If none of their template plans fit your needs, you can customize your own.
Mint.com will keep you updated about the progress of your savings plan. Setting up a Mint.com account, a budget, and a savings account require a little time, but the site features work so well together that it's worth the effort. Savings CalculatorAnother calculator which you can use without registering an account is found on Dinkytown. This calculator includes formulations for college savings, a savings plan for buying a home, and how much you could possibly save by not smoking, drinking, or over shopping.
It can even provide calculations for how much you might save each month by bagging your lunch instead of eating out. Want to make a cool million? It will show how to develop a savings plan for that too. When you actually see these numbers, it may very well make you realize how attainable your goals actually are. Matter of fact, the calculator will even show you how much it's costing you to delay any type of savings plan. College Savings PlannerIf you're looking to start a savings plan for your children's college education, you might take a look at Vanguard's College Savings Planner.
The calculator provides a rough estimate of how much you will need to set aside based on the tuition (in-state or out-of-state) and the type of college your child might attend. Savings With InterestsIf you're looking to start a long-term savings plan, many online bank and credit unions includes savings calculators.
Mappingyourfuture.com provides a really simple savings calculator that computes anticipated future savings based on an initial deposit, monthly savings, interest rates, and number of years. The site also provides tips for saving for college and paying off student loans. Savings Calculator For Your WebsiteIf your savings plan involves the visitors to your website, Frograte provides a set of formula calculations, including loan, mortgage, and credit card debts.
Posting the calculations and code on your site may be useful for an organization involved in a collective savings plan. Frograte says that their “savings calculator is based on monthly compounding, check the details of your account for the compounding period. Accounts that are compounded daily, or yearly will vary slightly from the calculated results”. Energy Savings CalculatorDeveloping a savings plan is just not limited to what you can set aside from your income. You might be able to save based on upgrading your refrigerator, or getting rid of your clunker and purchasing a new car.
Engerystar.com provides a calculator to help you determine how much you might save by buying an energy savings refrigerator. New vs Used Car CalculatorSimilarly, if you're needing to purchase a car, AOL.com provides a handy calculator for determining how much you might save buying a new car as opposed to a used one.
By using one of the above or similar calculators, you can get a more factual estimate of your savings goals as opposed to just guessing off the top of your head. Let us know of other calculators and money saving tips you know about. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| DOWNLOAD Your PC Hardware Guide [PART 2] Posted: 19 Jan 2011 09:00 AM PST
Teach yourself by reading the latest free guide from MakeUseOf: “Your PC, Inside and Out – Part 2.” You may download part 1 here. You’ve already read part 1, so why not pick up on where author Lachlan Roy left off? Part 2 highlights everything you need to know about CPUs, storage devices, memory, graphics cards and other computer components.
DOWNLOAD Your PC: Inside and Out Part 2 or This amazing guide, part 2 of a two-part volume, explains everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the inner workings of a computer. In Part 2 you’ll learn:
DOWNLOAD Your PC: Inside and Out Part 2 or Enjoy! Make sure to share the guide with friends on Facebook and Twitter suing the buttons below! Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| QuietWrite – A Web-Based Minimal Writing App That Saves Your Writing Online Posted: 19 Jan 2011 08:31 AM PST
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but MakeUseOf kind of likes minimal writing tools. Perhaps it’s just writers writing about writing, but in the blogging age tools that are useful for writers are useful for just about everything. Distractions being everywhere, it’s nice to write in an application that stays out of your way and lets you write. We recently profiled FocusWriter, a minimal writing app you can customize. We even taught you how to turn Office 2007 into a minimalist text editor, although you can be the judge of how well that works.
Getting StartedStarting isn’t all that complicated; just head over to QuietWriter.com and click the “Start Writing” button. When you do you’ll be presented with your workspace:
This is your main work area, and there’s not much to it; writing is all you can do here. Spell check is provided by your browser, assuming your browser offers it. Formatting isn’t possible. A word count can be found if you move your mouse to the top section of the window:
The best thing about this tool? It’s constantly saving your writing. As you type the information is sent to the cloud, meaning you could continue working even if something terrible happens to your computer. To take advantage of this feature, however, you’re really going to want a login account. You can preview your document. This may seem useless in a minimal editor, but if you’re like me it isn’t. You see, I write my blog posts in HTML, and QuietWrite is actually the first editor that allows me to preview how my code will look before I copy it over to MakeUseOf. Having access to a quick preview function is a great way to spot mistakes. User AccountsCreating a login account couldn’t be simpler. When creating a document, move your mouse to the top of the window. Here you will leave an email address and a password and be done. You can now save your documents and retrieve them later. This is an excellent way to have access to your work regardless of where you are. Heck, it’s even a great alternative way to get writing done on the iPad. You can also “publish” your writing, useful if you’re looking for a quick place to share something with a lot of people. Heck, there’s even an “explore” button you can use to find articles written by others, which is kind of neat. CustomizingLike the concept, but not a big fan of the color scheme? Don’t panic; you can customize the look of your writing area, to a certain extent. Move your mouse to the top of the browser window, then click “settings.” Here you can change you look:
This being a browser, you’re limited in terms of font selection. Colors however, are pretty much any you can imagine. ConclusionI like this one. It’s minimalistic writing, brought to the cloud. You can use this to discreetly work on creative projects in the office, or for keeping your writing in the cloud so you can access it anywhere. Unlike WriteSpace, it works on every browser and syncs with the cloud. What do you think? Is this a worthwhile tool, or just yet another minimal writing application? As always you can fill us in; type your thoughts in the box below. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 4 Review and Giveaway Posted: 19 Jan 2011 08:00 AM PST
Netgear’s ReadyNAS Ultra 4 is available in both diskless ($699.99) and 2 x 2 TB ($999.99) configurations. We received a diskless unit from Netgear and will be taking a closer look at almost every aspect of the NAS shortly. We’ll also be giving away the review unit so stick around.
Even though the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 is the slimmest of all the NAS devices featured in this mega giveaway, it is also the heaviest — weight at 10.35 lbs (almost 5 kg) without any disks installed. Its weight is mainly attributed to its solid metal construction. At the front, you’ll find the usual suspects: a power button, and several activity indicator lights, a USB port and backup button, a backup status light, a metal grill and finally, a OLED panel display at the bottom.
The front metal grill swings open to reveal the 4 hot-swappable drive array (max 8 TB) and drive trays that lock into place via a latch. This allows for easy access to drives without any tools required other than a screwdriver to attach the drive onto the metal drive tray.
The very first thing you’ll notice at the back is a large metal handle. I assume they had to include it because the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 is just so darn heavy. There are 2 USB 2.0 ports which can be connected to UPS devices, printers, etc (no eSATA interfaces to be found), a system reset button, 2 gigabit ethernet ports, a fan grill, a power inlet and Kensington lock port.
If you’re wondering why it has 2 ethernet ports, I’ll try my best to explain without introducing too much jargon. In most NAS devices that feature 2 ethernet ports, they can be teamed together resulting in one connection to the router. This increases the link speed beyond the limits of a single, regular connection and also provides redundancy in case a connection fails. However, the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 does not have this feature. Instead, the 2 ethernet ports allow you to connect to 2 different subnet groups so that the NAS can be accessed from 2 different locations. Utimately, if you’re a home user, you’ll most likely only be using one of the 2 network interfaces. The ReadyNAS Ultra 4 features a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom single-core with 1 GB DDR SODIMM upgradeable memory. Installation/DetectionInstallation of the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 involves plugging the power and network cable into the device and powering it on. The NAS will automatically negotiate for an IP address. Before you can start using it though, you will have to configure the device like we did in the previous reviews. Netgear provides a desktop utility cleverly named RAIDar. Once the NAS obtains an IP address, RAIDar will automatically detect it.
On initial setup, you’ll have the option to choose between Netgear’s X-RAID2 (comparable to Synology’s Hybrid RAID and Drobo’s BeyondRAID technology) which provides single disk redundancy and auto-expanding RAID capabilities; or you could manually configure it to RAID levels 0, 1, or 5. It does not support non-RAID configurations like JBOD.
ExpansionThe ReadyNAS Ultra 4 accessible, hot-swappable front drive array coupled with X-RAID2 technology makes it pretty easy to upgrade. While the system is powered on, remove the lowest capacity drive for a larger one and wait for the data to redistribute. Depending on the amount of data stored, the redistribution process could take up to 10 hours and is indicated by the front OLED display. Allow that to complete before swapping another drive from the array because X-RAID2 only provides 1 disk redundancy. Luckily, the process transparent so you can go about using the NAS simultaneously. ManagementLike most Netgear products, the ReadyNAS Ultra 4 is managed via a web interface.
Unfortunately, it utilises an archaic frames interface as opposed to an AJAX GUI like the one used by Synology. As a result, jumping back and forth between settings isn’t easy. The lack of a GUI also means that it is quite unintuitive.
The ReadyNAS Ultra 4 doesn’t come installed with much. You’ll get a DLNA media streamer, TiVo support, power scheduler, support for external USB hard drives, printers and webcams, UPS support, among others. But where the ReadyNAS really shines is its backup functionality. This device is able to backup to and from almost anywhere. You could backup any folder from a computer, enable Time Machine on Apple computers or using the Backup button on the ReadyNAS unit. It is also capable of backing up to attached USB drives, networked shares and other ReadyNAS devices on the network. Every ReadyNAS Ultra 4 also comes 2 GB of ReadyNAS Vault Online Backup, free for 2 years. ConclusionThe ReadyNAS Ultra 4 may not be for everyone, especially considering the fact that it isn’t easy to manage. However, once you have the system up and running, it’s pretty rewarding. The ReadyNAS Ultra 4 beat most of the home/prosumer NAS devices on the market with its astounding throughput performance, as shown in a CNET review. Plus, it comes with a 3-year warranty. We’re giving away this review unit without any drives. If you’re keen to get your hands on it, here’s how. How do I become a winner?It’s simple, just follow the instructions.
Giveaway eligibility You must be a fan of our Facebook page to enter; Individuals who are over the age of 18. If you are under 18, get your parents to participate on your behalf; Individuals who reside in a country embargoed by the United States; Belgium, Norway, Sweden, or India are not permitted to enter. This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, February 18th at 2100hrs PST. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email. Spread the word to your friends and have fun! MakeUseOf would like to thank Netgear for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interesting in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us via email. Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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| Share Little-Known Facts About Yourself With Facto Posted: 19 Jan 2011 07:31 AM PST
Well the reason I’m bringing this up now is because Facto is like a reverse-Formspring, although it’s equally addictive. By “reverse-Formspring”, I mean that instead of users asking you questions to find out more about you, you can list little-known facts about yourself for them to see. Facts that you cook up are easily shareable via social networks like Twitter and friends can come and let you know what they think by clicking a few choice options. Who’s Behind Facto?Facto was created by Kyle Bragger, maker of Forrst, which is a community for designers and developers. Kyle, who I know personally through working at VaynerMedia (full disclosure), developed Facto from concept to reality in a mere 24 hours, and has already received press from other mainstream blogs shortly after Facto went live. Kyle blogged about the whole process on his personal site, so if you feel so inclined, I invite you to check it out. How Do I Get Started With Facto?
To start utilizing Facto (directory listing), head over to the homepage and list a fact about yourself. I know this may seem hard, so here are some examples. Once you’ve added your first fact, you can snag your username and create your account.
Start adding facts one by one and optionally tweeting them out to Twitter and sharing them on Facebook with your friends. You can also share a link to your profile page on Twitter or Tumblr if you so choose.
Everyone who visits your profile page will see a random fact that you’ve added, like “My favorite animal is a monkey“, or “I never got my driver’s license“. Below the fact, users will be able to click a button expressing their reaction to it.
Button choices include Knew that!, Didn’t know that, Me too!, Awesome, Whoa, Weird!, Boring, and No way. When somebody clicks on one of those reactions, their profile picture will be placed beside their vote for others to see, and you can click the picture to be taken to that user’s profile.
If you would like to see all of a person’s facts at once, there is a link for that on their profile page, too. ConclusionI really like the idea of getting to know people better by learning interesting facts about them. It differs from Formspring for me in that some of the types of facts I’ve seen on Facto are about things I would have never thought to ask a person on Formspring, which makes it great I think. So whether or not you can think of a lot of interesting facts about yourself to share, you should at least have fun reading everybody else’s. One option I failed to mention above was the ability to enable others to list facts about you, so if you think your best friends know more about you than even you do, by all means invite them to join in on the fun. What do you think of this concept? Are you going to create an account on Facto? Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!
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